U.S. patent application number 09/962956 was filed with the patent office on 2003-03-27 for method of and apparatus for dynamically goefencing movable vehicle and other equipment and the like.
This patent application is currently assigned to LoJack Corporation. Invention is credited to Duvall, William.
Application Number | 20030060938 09/962956 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 25506550 |
Filed Date | 2003-03-27 |
United States Patent
Application |
20030060938 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Duvall, William |
March 27, 2003 |
Method of and apparatus for dynamically GoeFencing movable vehicle
and other equipment and the like
Abstract
A technique and apparatus for dynamically establishing and
varying GeoFencing of a GPS-processor equipped vehicle or the like
by providing specialized software and firmware at the vehicle
processor to enable internal calculation of shape and size of
GeoFences about the vehicle upon commands of the control center
station, and without the necessity for such calculation or data
point information transmission from the station.
Inventors: |
Duvall, William; (Sudbury,
MA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
Rines and Rines
81 North State Street
Concord
NH
03301
US
|
Assignee: |
LoJack Corporation
|
Family ID: |
25506550 |
Appl. No.: |
09/962956 |
Filed: |
September 25, 2001 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
701/2 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B60R 25/1012 20130101;
B60R 25/102 20130101; H04W 4/021 20130101; B60R 2325/205 20130101;
G08G 1/207 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
701/2 ;
455/456 |
International
Class: |
G05D 001/00; G06F
007/00 |
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A method of controlling from a remote control center the dynamic
GeoFencing of a vehicle or other movable apparatus internally
provided with a GPS receiver, software-implemented processor, and
communication links, that comprises, transmitting a command from
said control center to the vehicle to receive and transmit to the
control center, its current GPS location point; pre-determining at
the control center the desired shape and size of a GeoFence around
the vehicle and transmitting commands to the vehicle to establish
such a GeoFence; and responding at the processor to said commands
by operating said software to calculate in the processor the
location of points defining the perimeter of said desired shape and
size of GeoFence, thereby establishing the desired GeoFence about
the current vehicle location point from data calculated at said
vehicle processor.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the GPS location point and the
GeoFence perimeter points are expressed as latitude and longitude
numbers.
3. The method of claim 2 wherein said shape is selected as one of
substantially circular and polygonic shapes.
4. The method of claim 3 wherein the polygonic shape is formed of
sufficient location data points to approximate a circle.
5. The method of claim 4 wherein, having established a GeoFence,
the control center commands the vehicle processor to vary the
radius or effective radius of the GeoFence, thereby correspondingly
to vary the included area.
6. The method of claim 2 wherein both the control center and the
vehicle processor software are provided with lookup tables for the
respective selection and data calculation implementation of one or
both of said shape and size of the GeoFence.
7. The method of claim 2 wherein the vehicle initiates its current
GPS location reading and transmits it to the control center.
8. The method of claim 2 wherein the control center initiates the
activating of a GPS reading at the vehicle and such reading is
communicated by the vehicle to the control center.
9. Apparatus for controlling from a remote control center the
dynamic GeoFencing of a vehicle or other movable apparatus
internally provided with a GPS receiver, a software-implemented
processor, and communication links, having, in combination, means
for transmitting a command from said control center to the vehicle
to receive its current GPS location and transmit the same to the
control center point; means for pre-determining at the control
center the desire shape and size of a GeoFence around the vehicle;
means for transmitting commands to the vehicle to establish such a
GeoFence; and software at the processor responsive to said commands
for calculating the location of points defining the perimeter of
said desired GeoFence about the current vehicle location point from
data calculated at said vehicle processor.
10. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the GPS location point and the
GeoFence perimeter points are expressed as latitude and longitude
numbers.
11. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein said shape is selected as one
of substantially circular and polygonic shapes.
12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein the polygonic shape is formed
of sufficient location data points to approximate a circle.
13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein, having established a
GeoFence, the control center is provided with means for commanding
the vehicle processor to vary the radius or "effective" radius of
the GeoFence, thereby correspondingly to vary the included
area.
14. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein both the control center and
the vehicle processor software are provided with look-up tables for
the respective selection and data calculation implementation of one
or both of said shape and size of the GeoFence.
15. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the vehicle is provided with
means for initiating a current GPS location reading and
transmitting it to the control center.
16. The apparatus of claim 10 wherein the control center is
provided with means for initiating the activating of a GPS reading
at the vehicle, and the vehicle is provided with means for
thereupon communicating said reading to the control center.
Description
FIELD
[0001] The present invention relates to the field of
GeoFencing--the concept of providing information that indicates
through GPS signal fixing at, and of, a vehicle or other apparatus
or system receiving its GPS location or address, that the vehicle
or the like has not strayed beyond some predetermined area
surrounding that location--the so-called GeoFence established
around an original address or location of the vehicle or the
like.
BACKGROUND
[0002] As described, for example, at Qualcam
http://www.qualcam.com, Air IQ http://www.airir.com. and Highway
Master@(trackhttp://www.highwaymaste- r.com, as illustrations, the
prior art of such GeoFencing requires either the entry via
send-port or other physical interface or the day-to-day downloading
at the vehicle of data points for establishing the parameters of
the fence to be established around the vehicle origin location, to
be transmitted from an outside source such as a remote central
server station, generally over an air interface such as the
cellular telephone networks. In accordance with existing methods,
hardware is installed in the vehicle, such hardware consisting of a
GPS receiver, processor/memory, and firmware, and power supply. The
variations of the GeoFence can be applied once the latitude and
longitude is determined by the hardware and the location is
registered at the central station, which then transmits data points
for the setting of the desired GeoFence area, for downloading at
the vehicle to define the desired GeoFence latitude and longitude
parameters. If the vehicle is unauthorizedly driven out of the
established GeoFence, it is possible then to cause an alarm to be
sent over a radio or telephone channel to provide notification that
the vehicle has been so moved. Alternatively, if the vehicle, such
as construction equipment or the like, is to be located at a
different site, a new GPS origin location is received at the new
site by the vehicle and is registered at the central station, and
new sets of data points are transmitted from the station to the
vehicle or apparatus to set up a new GeoFence; or to expand or
contract a GeoFence, all as desired. The fence parameters may
change because the position of the vehicle itself may be moved from
town to town, requiring changed origin points; or the size of the
GeoFence may be varied, altering the radius from, say, one mile to
two miles. A delivery vehicle, for example, may choose to expand
the area of its delivery van from just one city to neighboring
cities.
[0003] The before-described present-day transmission of GeoFence
data to be downloaded at the vehicle requires considerable
bandwidth in the communications network to enable downloading all
of the new latitude-longitudinal information to establish the
GeoFence, requiring considerable air time to do so and intensive
messaging, or requires direct input via a physical interface to the
hardware. Extensive messaging is required, indeed, to get enough
data into the vehicle hardware to establish a new GeoFence.
[0004] These difficulties are alleviated in accordance with the
technique of the present invention by building the capability of
establishing the new GeoFence within the firmware product in the
vehicle itself, and requiring only commands from the central
station to set up the new GeoFence--totally eliminating the
present-day need for transmitting data from the station and
re-loading such new data points into the vehicle resident
hardware.
[0005] As an illustration, it may be desired to move a piece of
construction equipment, say, a steam shovel, to a new location.
Once the vehicle is moved, the central station sends a command to
it to determine the new home origin location points or address by
its GPS equipment and to register the new location with the
station. A subsequent command will activate the algorithm provided
in accordance with the invention within the firmware of the vehicle
processing equipment to calculate within the unit itself, the new
data points for the selected GeoFence--say a circle of 2-mile
radius about the new origin location. This totally eliminates the
requirement for the station to send the new fence data, since the
vehicle unit itself now calculates the new GeoFence parameters
dynamically within itself.
[0006] At the time of manufacture of the vehicle processing unit,
the characteristics of the GeoFence are, or can be,
pre-established--whether it will be a circle, or a square, or a
polygon such as a hexagon or an octagon approximating a circle.
Once determined, the unit software will, in operation, generate the
new latitude and longitude points for the perimeter of the GeoFence
about the home origin point or address.
OBJECTS OF INVENTION
[0007] The primary object of the invention, thus, is to provide a
new and improved method of and apparatus for GeoFencing that shall
not be subject to the prior art and present-day disadvantages above
described; but that, to the contrary, enable dynamic GeoFence
establishment at the vehicle itself upon command from a remote
central or control station.
[0008] Other and further objects will be explained hereinafter and
are more particularly delineated in the appended claims.
SUMMARY
[0009] In summary, however, from one of its broadest viewpoints,
the invention embraces a method of controlling from a remote
control center the dynamic GeoFencing of a vehicle or other movable
apparatus internally provided with a GPS receiver, a
software-implemented processor, and communication links, that
comprises, transmitting a command from said control center to the
vehicle to receive and transmit to the control center, its current
GPS location point; pre-determining at the control center the
desired shape and size of a GeoFence around the vehicle and
transmitting commands to the vehicle to establish such a GeoFence;
and responding at the processor to said commands by operating said
software to calculate in the processor the location of points
defining the perimeter of said desired shape and size of GeoFence,
thereby establishing the desired GeoFence about the current vehicle
location point from data calculated at said vehicle processor.
[0010] Preferred and best mode embodiments and designs are later
detailed.
DRAWINGS
[0011] The invention will now be explained in connection with the
accompanying drawings, FIG. 1 of which is an explanatory diagram of
different GeoFence areas;
[0012] FIGS. 2 and 3 are system diagrams showing the inter-relation
of vehicles (or the like) to-be-monitored and GPS satellite
navigation signaling and control center links used in accordance
with the invention; and
[0013] FIG. 4 is a diagram of changed site and remote control
station interaction.
DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S) OF INVENTION
[0014] Referring to FIG. 1, a plurality of different-area GeoFence
geometric shapes are shown established around a central vehicle
origin location O--as, for example, of circular or polygonic shape.
The data points P for establishing the perimeter are, in accordance
with the technique underlying the present invention, as later
detailed, computed by the processor within the vehicle at O on
external command, once the vehicle GPS receiver has identified its
origin location. The size of the GeoFence is varied by changing the
radius or effective radius r, r' for the GeoFence, by command.
[0015] A vehicle 1 is shown in the form of a crane for illustrative
purposes in FIG. 2, equipped with a GPS receiver 1A for receiving
navigation position-location signals S.sub.L from the GPS
constellation 2, a processor 1B, and a communication modem or link
1C for communicating along S.sub.T and receiving along S.sub.C to
and from a central control center station 3. The control center
station, FIGS. 2 and 3, communicates along S.sub.C with commands,
later explained, for the control of the software-programmed
processor 1B, and also may request the GPS satellite 2 (S, FIG. 2)
and/or the GPS vehicle receiver 1A, to signal the
longitude-latitude current position coordinates for the current
location O of the vehicle 1 as is well known. The vehicle 1 will
provide along S.sub.T the current (or new) location information
received at the vehicle from the satellite, to the central station
3 for registration thereat. Upon such command S.sub.C from the
central control station 3, the vehicle 1 therefore identifies its
current (new) location or site.
[0016] At the control center, a decision is made to establish a
desired, or to change a GeoFence around the vehicle at its
identified current (new) location, and a command signal S.sub.C is
sent to the vehicle to establish a new GeoFence and also,
preferably simultaneously, to designate what new parameters for the
GeoFence the vehicle processor 1B is to calculate.
[0017] Upon receipt at the vehicle unit of such commands, the
vehicle processor 13 calculates by its internal software and
firmware such new GeoFence parameters selected by the control
center station. The new parameters are selectable after the vehicle
determination from the GPS satellite of its current home position,
through the well-known use of numbered tables--a first for
selection of a particular geometric pattern or shape (circular,
polygon, etc.) from a fence shape numbered table T.sub.1, FIG. 2,
and then for selection of the size of the shape from a second
pre-prepared numbered table T.sub.2--for example, the selection of
a circular fence and the selection of a radius, say, of 2 miles
from the control center. Such communications may be effected via a
cellular telephone channel or by other radio air link interfaces as
by VHF, UHF and the like, including the Lojack "One Phone" and
"Location" systems described in copending U.S. patent applications,
Ser. Nos., 09/235,606, filed Jan. 20, 1999 and 09/662,278, filed
Sep. 14, 2000 and 09/194,242, filed Nov. 25, 1998.
[0018] The internal firmware-software at the vehicle, by well-known
types of implementation, itself thus calculates and establishes the
GeoFence and desired changes therein without the necessity for the
supplying of data from the control center as is presently done,
though subject to the above-described and other disadvantages, all
overcome by the dynamic GeoFencing concept of the present
invention.
[0019] An example of the use of the invention is shown in FIG. 4
where a first established GeoFence of an exemplary two-mile radius
has been set up (far right) for a vehicle at Origin O in Boston.
The vehicle is then moved to Worchester (0') and a five mile radius
GeoFence is set up with the longitude-latitude data points P
defining the circular fence calculated internally by the vehicle
processor upon command of the remote central control station at
Braintree, as earlier described. A supplemental "help" or alarm
signal is also illustrated as sent to the station in an emergency
or in the event the vehicle has been unauthorizedly moved outside
the established GeoFence.
[0020] Further modifications will occur to those skilled in this
art and such are considered to fall within the spirit and scope of
the present invention as defined in the appended claims.
* * * * *
References